Gavin Finds Connection at Henry Street
By Henry Street Settlement
“I’m not a saint but I’m going marching in,” Gavin Rumph, 40, says with a laugh, describing his enthusiastic embrace of Henry Street’s CONNECT (Continuous Engagement between Community and Clinic Treatment) support groups.
As a teenager from Georgia, Gavin struggled to fit in at school when he moved to Texas to live with his father. In an effort to explain why he felt different from his peers, he told people he was from New York City. Slowly that fib turned into a goal.
For 20 years, Gavin moved around the South, working a variety of jobs and briefly serving in the Army, but never having stability or an emotional support system. “It was like a building without a foundation,” he says.
In 2024, after years of struggling with anxiety, depression, and substance misuse, Gavin boarded a bus to the city of his dreams. Homeless upon arrival, he was soon hospitalized. When he was released from Bellevue Hospital to a Brooklyn shelter, a social worker provided him with a list of resources that proved fortuitous: it included Henry Street’s CONNECT food pantry.
As Gavin began visiting the pantry for grocery staples, he also accepted the team’s offer of individual psychotherapy and case-management services. He soon began trying out the support groups that CONNECT provides. Starting with the meditation group, he went on to join anger management, acupuncture, healthy relationships, and relapse prevention, coming to CONNECT nearly every day.
“I’ve been adamant about self-growth and evolving as my own person,” says Gavin, who has also reconnected with his interests in singing, writing poetry, and spoken word.
Gavin (center) at the CONNECT food pantry with Senior Case Manager Diego Laverde and CONNECT Assistant Director Lainey Perez.
CONNECT was conceived to help people just like Gavin—who need additional support beyond the typical 45-minute therapy session to thrive in the community.
“Gavin’s remarkable tenacity and determination have been evident since I first met him,” says Shanell Kitt, the CONNECT program director, Gavin’s therapist, and his instructor in the Self-Expression Through Art group. “CONNECT’s flexibility enables us to help people like Gavin navigate challenges and keep thriving in the community.”
“It’s been a fantastic therapeutic process,” Gavin says. “They care about my wellbeing; they want to see me prosper. This is the first time.”
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To learn more about the CONNECT program, click here.
To make a donation to the CONNECT food pantry or bring a group to volunteer, please contact Volunteer Program Manager Deanna Sorge at dsorge@henrystreet.org.
